Huddle video 🧵 of post Edinburgh International Book Festival book launch with Nicola Sturgeon’s and Scottish press
First questions on Joanna Cherry’s description of her leadership as “Stalinist” and snp finances, then on whether she owes women vilified in gender row an apology👇🏻

https://twitter.com/connorgillies/status/1956019426479771825

Questions on pandemic WhatsApp deletions/if she made trans people’s lives worse/was she a bully or bullied by Alex Salmond? Should she have revealed her convos with the Queen about him?

🧵 NEW: Prime Minister Keir Starmer has responded to Nigel Farage’s comments saying he’d scrap the Barnett formula for Scotland, telling @LBC “What would come in its place is total economic chaos.
“He thinks you can find a magic wand and find tens of billions of pounds without paying for it. We tried that with Liz Trust. It did huge damage to Scotland. It will be exactly the same under Nigel Farage. He's very good at fantasy. I'm grounded in making sure we deliver for the people of Scotland".

NEW: The Scottish Parliament has agreed new rules re toilets/changing areas in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
So "all facilities designated as male or female to be interpreted as meaning biological sex" & "an augmentation of existing provision of gender-neutral facilities" "A bank of three existing toilets in the public area of the building will become a gender-neutral facility. This is in addition to existing communal female-only toilets, communal male-only toilets, an accessible toilet and a Changing Places facility"

NEW: @joannaccherry has responded to Nicola Sturgeon's comments today on the Supreme Court - she says: ‘To say that The Supreme Court judgment means we are “at risk of making the lives of trans people almost unliveable” is the sort of fatuous hyperbole that she has indulged in in relation to these issues from the outset and it is deeply irresponsible for any politician to so misrepresent the judgment.
‘It’s a simply not true to say that all opinions were taken account of in this debate.
‘She branded the views of those of us who pointed out the

NEW: Nicola Sturgeon doorstepped by reporters in Holyrood today says while she accepts the Supreme Court ruling she is worried about the impact on trans people’s lives and if there is a negative one “the law needs to be looked at”

@LBCNewsScot l @LBCNews l @LBC Asked if she should apologise to @ForWomenScot and @joannaccherry she doesn’t, goes on to say all views were taken into account during GRRB passage

“We are prepared to be a willing partner in industrial intervention where that’s required to be the case” - John Swinney’s message to the STUC and the UKG - but ducks answering if Grangemouth is being used as a political football

@LBCNewsScot As he had talked of trans rights in his speech, I asked why he’d made no mention of women’s rights, or why there had been no message to women who had felt their rights undermined?

NEW: Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay gave a speech on net zero today - but began by referencing yesterday’s Supreme Court judgement

- calls on John Swinney to apologise to women and use his summit next week to “formally end the divisive self ID policy”

@LBC l @LBCNewsScot
Afterwards I asked him if anyone in government should resign over the loss in court

NEW: Scotland's census has released a new tranche of stats -
19,990 people, or 0.44% of those aged 16+, said they were trans or had a trans history
46.1% were aged 16 to 24
26% were aged 25 to 34
Was the first time the census had a voluntary question on trans status Dundee had the most trans people per head of population, followed by Edinburgh, Glasgow and then Aberdeen. NRS points out these council areas have large student populations and relatively high numbers of young people.

Full video 🧵 👇🏻

https://twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/status/1711366194261803335

“There'll be many people, including those in Scotland's Jewish community, for example, who will be really worried about their family in Israel that have come to harm, and my thoughts go to everybody” @HumzaYousaf says

NEW: @_KateForbes has told @LBC @LBCNews that the SNP "owes a debt of gratitude" to Peter Murrell for his two decades in charge but "it confirms the pitch I've made from the very beginning, which is the continuity won't cut it. @_KateForbes @LBC @LBCNews "we're at a crossroads right now, a powerful moment in the SNP history, and we absolutely need to take the path that leads to change, having candour about the challenges that we face, but also then being honest about what we're going to do to fix them"

Ash Regan has responded to Murrell’s departure As has Humza Yousaf

NEW: @LBC has learned all three snp leadership candidates have been written to by the party’s national secretary and “offered another opportunity to attend a meeting to discuss the operation of the election rules.” @LBCNews Move comes as the SNP three raise questions about integrity of the process as membership numbers are unknown to them.
A party spokesperson said: “All 3 candidates were successful in parliamentary selection contests using exactly the same voting system…

NEW: John Swinney has described Jeremy Hunt’s budget as a “missed opportunity” @LBC @LBCNews He says he hopes Hunt is right about inflation this year but at 10% right now it’s causing real hardship

NEW: Despite there being no mention of it in the Budget - and SNP leader Stephen Flynn saying that was "utterly shameful" - there will be an announcement on the carbon capture Acorn project later this month
@LBC @LBCNews has been told. @LBC @LBCNews Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen said "there will be more later on this month on that, things weren't in a state to say anything at this fiscal event but expect something more quite imminently"

Just as all political eyes are on the Budget, @AshReganSNP drops this letter, apparently on behalf of her and Forbes, with questions about the SNP membership numbers. @AshReganSNP A spokesperson for Kate Forbes said: “It is standard practice for any election to be made aware of voting numbers in advance. This should be no different.”

This is beyond belief: "Auditors have raised concerns over £87k of performance bonus payments to senior FMPG managers during 2021/22 It is not clear how their performance was assessed, nor were appropriate frameworks and governance in place"
Bonuses were paid without SG approval. Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland says "it is deeply concerning that the costs to complete these ferries have continued to escalate, whilst the island communities these boats are meant to serve remain significantly impacted.

Ash Regan says on Sky debate being a good FM is not about how well known you are. Polling suggests she’s not cut through with general public. Says she’s wants to start building central bank and currency plans which would start on first day if she becomes FM. Being pushed on what other institutions would be needed - she doesn’t seem to think any more will be required.

SNP leadership campaign: @_KateForbes says the booing of an SNP member asking about women’s rights was “unacceptable” and “outrageous”. Says @AshReganSNP attempted to condemn it at the time @LBC @LBCNews Same question about condemning the booing was put to @HumzaYousaf today too by @ImSophieAdams

I asked her about Humza Yousaf's suggestion she might back a members bill which would change equal marriage or abortion rights... "I have been I've been crystal clear over the last few weeks in terms of upholding the laws of the land. And I do think that both SNP members and the public are just quite baffled that laws that are set in stone seem to have dominated the leadership contest so far."

I also spoke with @_KateForbes for @LBC @LBCNews today (not on video) and asked her how she thought her campaign was going so far?

https://twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/status/1630616899573760010

@_KateForbes @LBC @LBCNews "People often make much of the fact that I delivered a budget with only a few hours notice - it ain't got nothing on coming back for seven months on maternity leave into all of this.

Spoke with @HumzaYousaf today while he was on the campaign trail - about his new childcare policy/how he'd pay for it, SG delivery of policy, about A&E waits, and if he can now call Isla Bryson a man after he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for a double rape... @LBC @LBCNews @HumzaYousaf @LBC @LBCNews So given it's about £1bn a year to pay for the expansion of childcare to 3/4yos, where's the money coming from? Will something else have to give to pay for it - or will taxes rise?